book reviews for Thursday, November 22, 2001:
Have you ever noticed that when you give a gift, you often receive much more in return? "The Quilt Maker's Gift", by Jeff Brumbeau, is a picture book about the gift of giving. What a perfect book for this time of the year! When an old quilt maker is discovered by an impetuous, selfish king, she refuses to make him a quilt. She only makes quilts for the poor and needy. She tells him that she will gladly make him a quilt when he gives away all that he treasures by giving gifts to others.
He is a very unhappy king and believes that the only way to find happiness is through receiving gifts from all of his subjects. Her refusal to make him a quilt only infuriates the king. So, he takes her up to a mountain and to a cave where a bear is sleeping. As his guards chain her to a rock, he asks her one more time if she will make him a quilt. When she refuses again, he leaves her there to die at the hands of the bear. When the bear awakens and finds the old woman chained nearby, he growls. She tells him that he must have slept badly on those old hard rocks. So, she sews him a pillow from her shawl.
Meanwhile, the king begins to feel guilty for leaving her to die and he races up the mountain with his guards. When he finds her having berries and honey with the bear, he is baffled and again angry. He asks her if she will make him a quilt. When she turns him down again, he's even more angry than before. He truly believes that this quilt will finally bring him the elusive happiness that he is constantly seeking.
This story enlightens you to the wisdom and kindness this old woman possesses, as well as witnessing what a fool the king has become. When he finally begins to see the light and sheds all of his earthly treasures, you feel like cheering him on!
The pictures in this book are a sight to behold! Gail de Marcken has captured the story in her beautiful drawings of the people and their surroundings. But what she has truly captured is the detail of each quilt. And each quilt tells a hint of what's to come in the story. Ms. Marcken has done a remarkable job of painting detail on each page. These quilts that she's drawn are authentic and there are the names of each design on both the front and back inside covers. And if that weren't enough, there is a large picture puzzle full of the many details drawn throughout the book located on the inside jacket cover! This book would be a perfect gift for any age. And what a perfect time of the year to give it to someone you care for! But, remember, by giving this book as a gift, as with any book, you'll receive much more than you bargained for!
"Homeless Bird", by Gloria Whelen, is an incredible look into a completely different culture from ours here in America. Koli is a thirteen year old girl who is from India. She has been told by her parents that she must marry a twelve year old boy whom she has never met. While these arranged marriages have been a part of Indian culture for centuries, she is very upset and doesn't want to marry anyone. Yet, she must not dishonor her parents and she must go through with the wedding.
When she meets the groom on her wedding day, she is alarmed at how sickly he looks. What she discovers after marrying him, is that he really is sick and they only had him marry right away because his family needed money from her dowry to try to cure him of his terrible illness. When he dies a short time later, she has to stay with this horrible family who treat her worse that any poor beggar off the street. She cannot return home because, again, it would dishonor her parents. She tries to put up with her evil mother-in-law while trying to find some sort of happiness.
The story takes the reader through many turns and twists in Koli's life so you are never quite sure how Koli is going to survive and get out of the situations in which she finds herself. What the reader begins to realize is how India is completely immersed in a caste system and how difficult it is for people to move out of the position of their birth. What I think kids will really learn and absorb from this remarkable book is an enhanced appreciation for the freedoms and opportunity of America. This outstanding book would be great for 11 years and older.